| MAP INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM UPDATES & GLOBAL CAPSULES |
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THIRD QUARTER |
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| INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL RESOURCES | |
| As Kosovo refugees streamed into Albania and
Montenegro this spring, MAP responded to requests from relief workers in the field who
desperately needed medicine and first aid supplies. Through June, MAP had prepared over
$6 million (wholesale value) worth of medicines, medical supplies and nutritional
supplements equaling ten 20-foot shipping containers for the refugee effort. These
shipments were shared with International Medical Corps, World Vision Canada, World Vision
US and World Relief among others. Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDRTB) is reaching epidemic proportions in several areas around the globe. MAP is working with Partners in Health in successful pilot programs to investigate effective disease management in both Haiti and Peru. These pilot programs have been cited by the WHO and International Red Cross as model programs. MAP is a prime supplier of medicines and supplies to the clinics participating in the program and has committed to provide logistical and assessment support. |
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| MAP/LATIN AMERICA | |
| MAP has been awarded its first child survival grant
by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The grant will be
used in a two-year project to lower child and maternal morbidity and mortality rates in a
remote area of the Amazon basin in Ecuador. This area has the worst health, education and
poverty indices of all of Ecuador’s 21 provinces. The first class of MAP-trained community health promoters from south Quito neighborhoods graduated in April. They were recognized at a graduation ceremony and presented with a formal certificate endorsed by the Catholic University of Ecuador, the Ministry of Public Health, and MAP. They are currently using their new skills in first aid, trauma care, referral, hygiene, community organizing, and income generation projects in their home communities |
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| MAP/EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA | |
| Mombassa, Kenya was once again the site of a
MAP-facilitated AIDS workshop for Church leadership. In June, the
Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) assembled delegates to attend this workshop as the
first step in the development of a formal policy for the church country-wide on HIV/AIDS
and other major health concerns. MAP and CORAT/Africa conducted a Drugs Baseline Study in sixteen health units in five Kenyan provinces. This study is the initial step in a program to increase the availability of high quality and affordable essential drugs through a sustainable, cost recovery program. Funded by the Swedish Pentecostal International Relief & Development Agency (PMU Interlife), the study uncovered that 90% of the health units surveyed have been unable to maintain a continuous supply of essential medicines. One-half of the health units visited did not have medicines at the time of the visit. Several of the units have management problems and while some units had previously trained community health workers and traditional birth attendants, there was little if any interaction with them to reach the community with health information. |
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| MAP/WEST AFRICA | |
| A MAP-sponsored workshop on the rational use of drugs (RDU) held in
Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in May drew participants from 18 francophone countries.
This workshop was held in collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Program of the World
Council of Churches. The World Health Organization in Geneva sent a representative.
Physicians, pharmacists, and hospital managers representing Catholic, Mainline and
Evangelical churches agreed to form an "Association
Francophone des Oeuvres Sanitaires Chretiennes" (Association of French-Speaking
Christian Health Institutions). MAP has been asked to act as official coordinator of the
group’s activities to improve the quality of pharmaceutical care in the member
counties. MAP’s joint efforts with the ministry of health, the Carter Center, and other health organizations to eradicate guinea worm disease in Cote d’Ivoire are experiencing promising results. A recent mid-year evaluation of the program shows the incidence of the disease has dropped from 900 cases last year to 209 this year (a decrease of 77%). If this trend continues, the target of eradicating the disease nationwide by 2003 will be realized. |
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| GLOBAL CAPSULES Twenty-six percent of Americans use the World Wide Web -- as opposed to three percent of Russians, 4 one-hundredths of one percent of the population of south Asia, and 2/10ths of one percent for Arab states. An American needs to save a month's salary to buy a computer; a Bangladeshi must save all his wages for eight years to do so. New York Times
In Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the number of people who are living under the poverty line of $4 U.S./day has grown from 14 million in 1989 to 147 million today. World Bank, 1999
In Uganda, the infection rate for HIV/AIDS is about 10 percent in the general population and up to 30 percent in the military. UNAIDS |
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